Thank you for joining in the celebration, Quickbeam! I'm another who loves your "Where the Stars are Strange" report, and hope you don't mind that I've quoted bits of it at times here......In honor of .........TORN's annual......Founder's Day Celebration...........Established 4/26/09

Renowned Tolkien scholar and good friend or TORN, Michael Drout, sends this message:

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Congratulations on ten years! The success of TORn shows that there's not that much difference between the "scholarly" and "fan" communities when it comes to Tolkien: scholars are fans, too, and there are "scholarly" fans who make massive contributions to our understanding of Tolkien. There are also major contributions--in gaming, art, armor, costuming--that all are better off when they cross-fertilize each other. Thus by putting everyone in touch with everyone else, TORn has helped bring about what people 50 years from now will be calling the "Golden Age" of Tolkien.

And this would not have happened without TORn's perfect blend of being both fun-loving and professional. From the look and feel of the site to the way that the community keeps itself from dissolving into flame-wars or snobbishness, TORn is, to me, the model approach for getting more enjoyment and knowledge out of a topic. Of course it helps when the topic is a great as Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, but still, an enormous amount of credit must to the founders. A toast to your continued success!

LOL! I just woke up bleary eyed, straight to the computer, came to see what was happening here - and promptly fell off the chair (and there's no smiley to explain how I feel)

Thankyou Daniel for looking over the photos *squeeeeee!!!* -* tries to retains composure*....

The map is on a 'blush' coloured handmade paper. And it was done using pencils - a 1980 set of Rex Cumberland Derwents and Prismalo soft Caran D'ache Watercolours pencils. I didnt do much of an underwash as I didnt have any means to keep the paper sretched to dry. The inks are Winsor Newtons, and Indian Ink, using an Italic nib, scroll, and copperplate. This is the biggest size map Ive done - the further along it got, the more aware I was of making a mistake - some days I just had to walk away rather than put the ink on the paper. I would look at your maps for confidence to get the pen and ink back on the paper. I love doing maps - and of all the maps Ive seen, I can stare at the maps you have done for ages - they are truly beautiful! You have been a great inspiration! For that I thank you sincerely! And I also notice this huge amount of creativity and talent you have taking the water colours further, and the ink pen drawings - I so hope that there are still some more maps of ME to see in the future from you - but I'll leave that there - its on my wishlist.

Thankyou Daniel Cheers Elven Swishtail.

Tolkien was a Capricorn!! Russell Crowe for Beorn!!Avatar: Liberace - The other Lord of the Rings.

Quote of The Week: The thing is I always write in the morning, and I know that if I go to the Net I wonít write ... you can start in the most scholarly website and end up at Paris Hilton dot com .. GdT

I get your news leter so I will eagerly awaiting any news if you make it over here to Oz - or I make it over there to NZ!

This time around I hope New Line have you at the top of the list for a book - and also quite a bit on the Extended Editions about anything you do (not that we know if you'll do anything of course ) - but Im putting my 10 cents worth in now - there can be no true adventure without a map! and THAT Dwarvish map is such an important piece in the story!

May your road ahead be a successful adventure!

Cheers Daniel Elven Swishtail.

Tolkien was a Capricorn!! Russell Crowe for Beorn!!Avatar: Liberace - The other Lord of the Rings.

Quote of The Week: The thing is I always write in the morning, and I know that if I go to the Net I wonít write ... you can start in the most scholarly website and end up at Paris Hilton dot com .. GdT

...there will be a performance of Tolkien's poems from the Songs for the Philologists, sung by (mostly) a bunch of English professors with no shame, as organized by Doug Anderson. (I'll be there!) It's nice to see his comments here. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> We're discussingThe Hobbit in the Reading Room, Mar. 23 - Aug. 9. Everyone is welcome!

He took a big chance, trusting that some dedicated internet-based Tolkien fans could produce respectable encyclopedia articles on fairly obscure subjects (leaning on one another for advice and critiques, to be sure). It was an honor to be given that responsibility, and a thrill when this work was praised, as for example in these comments from Kelley M. Wickham-Crowley's review of the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia for vol. 4 of Tolkien Studies:

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Tolkien's contribution to Sir Mortimer Wheeler's report on excavations at Lydney Park is known to many through Shippey's comments in The Road to Middle-earth, but [dna] does a lovely job of both updating the archaeological assessments and of incorporating Tolkien's blend of Celtic religion, myth, and poetic inspiration when considering Nodens in "Report on the Excavation ... in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire."

The opportunity for a dozen TORNadoes to stretch themselves in this manner would not have arisen if not for the wonderful quality of the discussions here, and Prof. Drout's appreciation --which he shows again in this message-- of what fans can offer to Tolkien studies. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> We're discussingThe Hobbit in the Reading Room, Mar. 23 - Aug. 9. Everyone is welcome!

Really great letter, Quickbeam, thanks so much for putting into words what I didn't even know needed putting into words. I also look forward to more activities and more stories and more chances to meet with more TORnSibs in the coming years. Peace, Love and Rock & Roll,